Benghazi report's criticism focused

Wednesday

Dec 19, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 19, 2012 at 12:36 PM

WASHINGTON - An independent inquiry into the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11 sharply criticizes the State Department for a lack of seasoned security personnel and relying on untested local militias to safeguard the compound, congressional and State Department officials said last night.

WASHINGTON — An independent inquiry into the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11 sharply criticizes the State Department for a lack of seasoned security personnel and relying on untested local militias to safeguard the compound, congressional and State Department officials said last night.

The investigation into the attack on the mission and CIA annex that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others also faulted State Department officials in Washington for ignoring requests from officials at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli for more guards and safety upgrades for the diplomatic mission.

The panel also blamed the State Department for waiting for specific warnings of imminent attacks to act rather than adapting security procedures and protocols to a deteriorating security environment. By last spring, Benghazi, a hotbed of militant activity in eastern Libya, had experienced a string of assassinations and an attack on a British envoy’s motorcade. On June 6, a bomb was planted near the U.S. mission’s outer wall, blowing out a 12-foot hole.

Finally, the report also blamed two major State Department bureaus — Diplomatic Security and Near Eastern Affairs — for failing to coordinate and plan adequate security at the mission. The panel also determined that a number of officials had shown poor leadership.

In response to the panel’s findings, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a letter to Congress that she accepts all 29 of the panel’s recommendations, several of which are classified.

Clinton is taking specific steps to correct the problems, according to officials. They say the State Department is asking permission from Congress to transfer $1.3 billion from funds that had been allocated for spending in Iraq. This includes $553 million for additional Marine security guards; $130 million for diplomatic-security personnel; and $691 million for improving security at installations abroad.

The report appeared to break little ground about the timeline of the attack, which also killed information specialist Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, contractors working for the CIA.

But it confirmed that contrary to initial accounts, there was no protest outside the consulate, and it said responsibility for the incident rested entirely with the terrorists.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, administration officials linked the attack to protests spreading from Cairo that day over an American-made anti-Islamic film. Those comments came after evidence already pointed to a distinct militant attack. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on numerous TV talk shows on the Sunday after the attack and used the administration talking points linking it to the film.

Last week, Rice withdrew her name from consideration to replace Clinton as secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s second term.

On Monday, an independent panel that was established to investigate the attack presented the report to the State Department. The panel, called an accountability review board, is led by Thomas Pickering, a veteran diplomat. It includes four other members, among them Mike Mullen, a retired admiral and past chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The board is authorized by a 1986 law intended to strengthen security at diplomatic missions.

The State Department sent a lengthy classified version of the report to Congress yesterday. Pickering and Mullen are scheduled to meet with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee in closed session today. On Thursday, William J. Burns and Thomas R. Nides, who are deputy secretaries of state, are to testify to both panels.